HE WAS THE BEST/MOST VALUABLE PLAYER IN THE LAST GAME HE EVER PLAYED.

Not satisfied to wait his turn in Calgary, Burris signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, where he started 16 games while throwing for 4,647 yards and 30 touchdowns.

When the Green Bay Packers expressed interest in him the following season, that drive to be the best led him to a better league. But in Green Bay, he never made it above third string status before he was released later that season.

He signed with the Chicago Bears the following year and played six games for them, but after being assigned to NFL Europe for a stint with the Berlin Thunder — and being none too happy about it — he returned to the CFL.

Burris spent the 2004 campaign with Saskatchewan, leading the Roughriders to the Western final, then signed with Calgary, where he spent the next seven seasons, winning a Grey Cup (2008) and a most outstanding player award (2010) before the Stamps decided to go with the younger Drew Tate.

Hence, Burris welcomed a trade to Hamilton, where he could again take over a starter’s role. He posted big numbers in his first season as a Ticat, and brought the team to the Grey Cup in his second.

But that wasn’t good enough for Hamilton GM/coach Kent Austin, who signed free agent Zach Collaros. Feeling “disrespected” for one of the hundreds of times in his life, Burris signed with the expansion Redblacks.

In just three years, the very proud product of Spiro, Okla., will be quick to remind you, he has guided Ottawa from the outhouse to the penthouse, giving the nation’s capital its first Grey Cup in four decades.

In three years as a Redblack, he has brought his career passing totals to 63,227 yards and 374 touchdowns, third behind only Anthony Calvillo and Damon Allen in both categories. In three years, he has increased his collection of hardware to three Grey Cup rings and two Most Outstanding Player awards.

And he was the best/most valuable player in the last game he ever played.

Burris will be 42 by the time next season starts, yet it feels like he’s still leaving the game too soon. He’d need three, probably four, more good seasons to catch Calvillo for the all-time lead in passing yards and touchdowns, and right now it doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility he could do it.

Instead, Burris will retire as merely one of the greatest quarterbacks in CFL history, which isn’t a bad legacy to leave behind either.